RALLY NEWS NO.8      Quinns...Saturday 7.15

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 - FINAL STAGE
1st (11)Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson(Imp.WRC)44.57.9
2nd (2) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC)45.14.8
3rd (3) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla WRC)_ 45.20.8
4th (15) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza) 45.21.4
5th (6) Stig Blomqvist/Mark Crowe (Impreza) 46.02.4
6th (24) Mark Fisher/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 46.17.1
7th (10) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza)46.39.6
8th (21) Hugh Dunne/Greg Shinnors (Legacy) 46.48.1
9th (1) Ian Greer/Dean Beckett (Celica) 46.54.8
10th (18) David Greer/Michael Reid (Celica) 47.06.3
11th (4) Hannu & Juha Mikkola (Impreza WRC) 47.43.1
12th (23) Trevor Cathers/Gary Lyons (Lancer N)47.43.1

Derek McGarrity crosses the finishes line of this Fisher Engineering Summit 2000 Rally as the winner by 17 seconds from Andrew Nesbitt in a similar Subaru Impreza WRC.  The big question mark now is how will the results show McGarrity later on tonight when the decision is taken regarding the car being found underweight after stage 4.  McGarrity could of course be excluded from the results, a decision he states he will contest, if it happens.  Andrew Nesbitt brought his Pirelli shod Subaru in here to Quinn's yard before the final run to the Slieve Russell Hotel, and told us "It was a very well organised rally, the conditions were extremely slippy, and we wouldn't be used to that at all. As it dried out, it was good fun." Andrew made a real charge at the end to record fastest time on the last stage, 4s quicker than Austin McHale. McHale said "We had a good day but made a couple of mistakes on tyre choice". 

One of the drives of the day had to be from Donegal brothers Daniel & Michael Doherty.  They were lying 2nd for quite a while but just got passed in the end by Nesbitt and McHale. Daniel told us "We couldn't have gone much harder, we have no experience over the gravel, but the consolationis we're surrounded by rally legends". 

The final list is misleading in a way by showing Tarmac Champion, Ian Greer, down in 9th place. Subtract the 1m30s road penalty and it tells a slightly different story. Ian is going to appeal the penalty, so there again positions could change.  It did knock the wind out of the Taranto de Pol driver's sails for a stage or two when he found out about the penalty, but otherwise it was a good run, and he said "I really loved the rally, it lifted the pressure. I was down in the dumps after Killarney, but we're back up there now setting the times".  Former world champion Hannu Mikkola dropped to 11th place following a stage 7 puncture. Mark Fisher wins group N very conclusively after another brilliant run, a good omen for his Acropolis trip in the works Peugeot. Just outside the top 12 we have Brendan Kelly 13th, James Gillen 14th, Frank O'Mahony 15th. Provisionally Murphy moves into the lead of the Toshiba Tarmac C/ship. Max McKillen wins the race of the Peugeots just ahead of Mark Doyle. While Derek Jobb/Ivan Fisher win F2 from Barry Coleman. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON